Educational toy puzzle



Gd 5, 1954 A, R. NOBLE 2,690,912

EDUCATIONAL TOY PUZZLE Filed Aril 12, 1951 W :=1\\\\\\\\\\\ /////////////////,1//////////7 //v/ llllllllllllllll INVENTOR Albert RI/Vob/e ATTORNEY Patented Get. 5, 1954 EDUCATIONAL TOY PUZZLE Albert R. Nble,'St. Paul, Minn., assignor to Sifo Company, RamseyCounty, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Application April 1 2, 1951, Serial No. 220,662

3 lclaims.

This invention relates to an improvement in toys and deals particularly with an educational toy puzzle particularly amusing for young children.

During recent years there has .b'een'a trend toward producing toy puzzles for use by small children which will assist in educating the children as well as in amusing them. The present invention comprises a toy puzzle of this type and deals particularly with a puzzle having hidden or secret compartments in which various articles may be stored.

The stories of pirates and of treasure chests have long been of utmost interest to young and old alike. Most small children occasionally hear stories of such treasure chests and ordinarily find the subject extremely interesting. The present invention deals with a puzzle having'thereupon a representation of a treasure chest or the like, which is cut in several component parts in the manner of the well known Jig-Saw Puzzle, and which fit together within an encircling border or frame. A bottom panel is provided attached to the frame so as to be integral therewith. This bottom panel is provided with spaced cavities which underlie portions of the treasurechest and which are exposed by removing parts of the treasure chest representation. The cavities provided are such that they may receive and contain toy coins and other such treasures.

A feature of the present invention lies in the provision of a jig-saw puzzle which is designed to fit within an encircling panel :and overlie a bottom panel. The pieces of the puzzle are-designed to straddle cavities in the bcttom panel so that this bottom panel will firmly and securely support the various puzzle pieces. Thus the-cavities do not in any way affect the assembly of the puzzle or removal of the various pieces thereof.

Another feature of the present invention lies in the provision of a puzzle overlying a base panel having a series of spaced cavities therein. Any or all of the cavities may contain one or more coins or other such objects. Thus the puzzle may be used as a game in which the treasure may be hidden in one of the cavities and can not be located until the proper pieces of the puzzle have been removed.

An added feature of the present invention lies in the provision of a ring or similar object secured to one of the puzzle pieces in proper location to provide the appearance of a lock or hasp on the chest. This ring may be used if desired for lifting the first of the puzzle pieces from the frame so that the adjoining puzzle pieces may be more easily grasped.

These and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be :more clearly and fully set forth in the following specification and claims.

.In the drawings forming a part of the specification:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the toy puzzle showing the arrangement of the-parts and the appearance of the finished object.

Figure '2 is a perspective view of the base portion of the puzzle together with the encircling frame of the puzzle which is secured integrally to the base.

Figure 3 is a sectional view through a portion of the :puzzle, the position of the section :being I indicated'by the line.3-'3 of Figure 1;

The puzzle is indicated in general by the numeral A and includes in preferred form :thrce panels secured in surface contacting relation. The lowermost panel It forms the base panel and is shown as'being rectangular in cutlineiand being imperforate. The second layer or panel H overlies the base panel in and is :glued .or otherwise securely affixed to the base panel. Themtermediate panel H is provided with spaced apertures l2 therethrough which are located strategicallywith respect to th various pieces oi the puzzle. The apertures [2 form recessesear pockets in .the puzzle structure, the bottoms of the pockets being formed by .the lower-panel l-ll. Inthe assembled position of the puzzle, the :upper ends :of the pockets are also closed by the various puzzle pieces, which will be later described detail.

The :top panel liforms the upper sur face'ol the puzzle and is cut to provide .a peripheral frame H and various puzzle pieces. The frame M is provided with ;an aperture 1 5 therethrough, whichis preferably cut in :thezoutlineiof -a treasure chest or similar object in which the articles may be hidden.

In the preferred embodiment illustrated the puzzle includes a center section l5 which fits against the lower edge of the frame aperture and which is presented on opposite sides by puzzle pieces l6 and H which represent bands or straps encircling the chest. Outwardly of the bands l6 and I! are continuation pieces l9 and 20 which are colored or printed to simulate a continuation of the front panel of the chest. Lower corner portions 2! and 22 are provided which simulate the corner reinforcements and the lower corners of the chest.

The chest is provided with a transverse band which simulates the points of connection between the lid and bottom of the chest. This transverse band is simulated by the spaced puzzle pieces 23, 24, and 25. Upwardly and inwardly inclined band portions 26 and 21 form continuations of the lower band portions l6 and II, respectively and act to divide the upper portion of the chest into three puzzle pieces 29, 30 and 3|. All of these pieces fit together to form a solid body.

In Figure 3 of the drawings it will be noted that the pieces 23, 24, and 25 forming the transverse band portion of the puzzle are narrower than the area 32 of the intermediate panel H which they overlie. This permits the top puzzle pieces 26, 21, 29, 30 and 3| to straddle the pocket 33 formed by one of the apertures I2. As a result the various puzzle pieces may be inserted or removed without difliculty and the pocket 33 does not interfere with the proper insertion of the various puzzle pieces.

A pocket 34 is straddled by the puzzle pieces I9 and 2|. The piece 2| is generally triangular in form and overlies the intermediate panel along two sides of the pocket 34. The other piece l9 extends partially over three sides of the aperture, thereby completely bridging the same and concealing the pocket 34 when the puzzle pieces are in place.

The intermediate panel II also includes a pocket 35 which is completely covered by the panel l of the puzzle. The piece l5 overlies all four edges of the pocket 35, thus completely concealing the same.

Another pocket 36 is provided by one of the apertures 12 in opposed relation to the pocket 4 This is possible in view of the different number of puzzle pieces which must be removed to expose certain of the pockets. Furthermore, the variety of locations in which the coin or coins may be placed makes it possible for a child to attain a certain skill in playing with the toy.

A ring 39 is preferably pivotally attached to one of the puzzle pieces as for example the puzzle piece so that the ring is centrally located and provides a third dimensional projection which tends to enhance the appearance of the toy. The ring 39 is secured in place by a staple 40 or other suitable means. The ring 39 serves the additional purpose of providing a simple means of removing a first piece from the puzzle, making it simpler to grasp the various other puzzle pieces.

In accordance with the patent statutes, I have described the principles of construction and operation of my toy puzzle, and while I have endeavored to set forth the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that obvious changes may be made within the scope of the following claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. A toy puzzle including a series of laminations of fiat material secured together in surface contact, the lowermost of said laminations comprising a base panel, the intermediate lamination 34. The aperture 36 is completely covered by the puzzle pieces 2|] and 22 which bridge or straddle the pocket. The various pockets are designed to contain real or toy coins such as 31. One or more of such coins may be concealed in one or more of the pockets. The particular coins in question are thus not visible until the particular puzzle pieces overlying the pocket in question are removed, Furthermore, it is essential to remove several pieces in order to obtain a complete view of the elongated pocket 33 so that a coin or object in this pocket may be concealed from view even if two or three of the overlying pieces are removed.

The puzzle is normally supplied with toy coins in the pockets. Various simple games may be provided with the toy and which have been found extremely amusing to small children. For example, one child may hide a coin in a particular pocket and may note the number of puzzle ieces which are removed by a second child before the treasure is found. The toy possesses various additional features such as a determination of the proper location in which to hide a coin so that it will be least likely to be quickly found.

comprising a pocket panel and having apertures therethrough, the third and uppermost of said panels comprising a marginal frame portion and puzzle pieces of interfitting form cut from said uppermost lamination and adapted to be detachably assembled together within said marginal frame portion to reform said third panel and to overlie the pocket panel and to conceal the apertures therein, said puzzle pieces bridging the apertures in said pocket panel to form hidden chambers, said chamber forming apertures being closed at the bottom by said base panel.

2. The structure described in claim 1 and including an upward projection on one of said puzzle pieces to facilitate its removal.

3. The structure described in claim 2 and in which the upward projection comprises a ring hingedly connected to the puzzle piece.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 941,680 Houghton Nov. 30, 1909 1,264,944 Lancaster May 7, 1918 1,520,651 Irwin Dec. 23, 1924 1,525,103 Orr Feb. 3, 1925 1,714,127 Graham May 21, 1929 2,037,966 Dailey Apr. 21, 1936 

